Alan Pogue's stories are drawn from his extensive life experience.  When Alan's children were young, they sometimes bragged to their friends that their dad had worked at everything.  While not true, Alan has had a greater variety of experience in life than most people.  This experience of life adds texture to his stories.  He has traveled extensively, and hopes to set foot on all seven continents before his life concludes. He has sampled several careers and may try others.  So far, he has: sold shoes for a department store and vacuum cleaners door to door; sold insurance and businesses; built and repaired fire places and grills; hired, trained, managed, and fired employees for profit, non-profit, and government organizations; worked for churches and state government; taught in colleges and universities; run for the state legislature (twice); and built a small business from the ground up.  Like Alan, the characters in his stories use perseverence, hard work, education, and imagination to create opportunities for themselves.  He desires for his stories to inspire as well as entertain.